Fading Beauty and Christmas Preparations

Almost Christmas and much to do. While the garden is sleeping I have time to prepare for the festive season. In between activities I wander around the damp garden for a breath of fresh air and to seek out glimpses of end of year beauty.

Although the flowers have faded there are lovely leaves, moss and seedheads to please my eye. Euonymus “Blondie” is always glowing no matter what the weather. It sprawls across the paving and shines out on the dullest day.

Cotoneaster leaves and berries are scarlet beauties and even the gooseberry leaves have lovely tints. Other leaves still look fresh and verdant.

Then there is moss, lichen on tree branches, seedheads and ivy along with evergreens to put on a show when all else lies dormant.

Dried corkscrew tendrils on my Clematis montana “Freda” are interesting too.

The leafbin has been piled high. The wind, rain, frost and snow will break down the leaves into useful leafmould. I will use this to make potting and seed compost.

We have a lovely Chinese pot with a bonsai conifer in it. It’s a lovely feature of the garden.

With Christmas in mind, I love to make much of the food myself. I’m afraid I used to over bake my mince pies. It was a family joke because the pastry was hard! But I’ve finally worked it out. I enjoy making my own mincemeat, which I only need to do every couple of years because it keeps and matures so well. You can’t beat a warm mince pie, dusted with icing sugar and a glass of sherry. A winter treat. I make as many mince pies as I can and freeze them so we can continue to eat them after Christmas.

Another favourite of mine is a roulade. It looks special as a dessert but it’s just a simple Swiss roll filled with whipped cream and something extra added. I make it and freeze it for Boxing Day or New Year. I open freeze it on a baking tray with some greaseproof paper under it, then once it’s solid I wrap it and replace it in the freezer. I unwrap while still frozen as soon as I need it and place it on a serving plate to thaw. That way the cream isn’t disturbed when I pick it up.

Two of my recipes for this are in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook, with full instructions. If you have it already you’ll find them in my Puddings section. If not you’ll find it with this link:

https://geni.us/eANQu

I thought it was time to start using my stored squashes. I grew “Uchiki Kuri” this year, a new one for me, so I didn’t know if it would be tasty. I hadn’t tried squash soup before so I made some to see if it would be flavourful. I used a small onion, a stick of celery, two vegetable stock cubes and the flesh from my squash. Blended it when it was cooked. Absolutely delicious!

Before Christmas I like to make something festive. Just simple crafts, I can’t do anything too sophisticated. This year I made some felt holly leaves and berries to place on the napkins at the table. They look nice against the white of the fabric and can be lifted off again when I wash the napkins.

I made a paper template for the shape and cut out six. Then I cut felt berries and glued them on with a dab of Copydex. Very simple to do and I think they will look nice. The colours aren’t bright on my photo but they’re actually a lovely holly-green and scarlet.

I hope Christmas is a creative time for you too and not too stressful. It’s such a busy few weeks but I feel it’s a distraction from the winter gloom and gives me a focus until snowdrops start appearing in the garden.

With you again as Christmas approaches. Meanwhile, stay warm and happy. Bye for now.